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AGOURA HILLS, CALIF.—It’s not quite as glamorous, pulling up in a creaky shuttle bus instead of a limo, but even on one of the coldest, bleakest nights of the winter in Los Angeles, I can recognize the facade of television’s most famous singles hangout.

Driving into the cobblestone walkway that belongs to Villa De La Vina, the famous Spanish Revival-style home made famous by reality show The Bachelor, there is an initial pang of disappointment: no host Chris Harrison.

But walking past the oversized fountain and through the ornate wooden door, I am surprised to find former Bachelorette star Trista Sutter there to greet me along with current Bachelor Sean Lowe (his season is airing Mondays at 8 p.m. on OMNI and ABC).

Inside the Bachelor mansion is a hub of activity. On the 25th season anniversary of the two combined shows, producers have invited me to mingle with current and past stars at a cocktail party.

The premise of The Bachelor is simple. It hooks up hot young singles with an eligible bachelor (or bachelorette). Add alcohol and a hot tub, and you have some of the cheesiest television drama ever.

The Mediterranean-styled mansion is immediately familiar to anyone who watches the shows, although it looks much smaller. In the living room there was a cardboard cut out of Harrison to replace the missing host. He had bigger fish to fry emceeing the Miss America pageant that night.

In the room used to host rose ceremonies, I spot Lowe standing by a makeshift bar. He looks taller in person at 6-foot, 3-inches.

During the last season of The Bachelorette, it was the 28-year-old Texan who was being rejected by star Emily Maynard. Now he’s starring in his own season.

“Don’t you feel a little weird that Emily (Maynard) is like five feet away from you and you were, like, in love with her a year ago?” I whisper to Lowe.

“Well, yeah, it is a little weird, I’ve only seen Emily since the ‘Men Tell All’ episode and I saw her briefly at (former Bachelor stars) J.P. and Ashley’s wedding,” says Lowe, looking over my shoulder at Maynard. “But this is the first time I’ve actually got to talk to her a little bit.”

Lowe looks a bit uncomfortable: as he should, since it wasn’t too long ago he had professed undying love to a woman just inches away from him in the crowded room.

“The last time I was in here a month or so ago I was sending someone home,” says Lowe. “It brings out a lot of emotion in me.”

Lowe says the shooting has wrapped, but he can’t tell me if he’s in love. He gives a wry smile.

Harrison has dubbed Lowe “the sincerest Bachelor yet” and he’s living up to the title.

He may not be the spiciest burrito to ever don the Bachelor mantle, but this guy is eminently likeable with a great sense of humour. I can understand why the women are so into him. I see a serious bromance in our future.

After talking to Lowe, I decide to wander around the house. First stop is to the famous Bachelor hot tub.

Going back inside I find Maynard, who is even more stunning in person.

I ask her how her love life has been seen she broke up with that guy on a skateboard.

“I think I should remain single for a while. Unless you can think of someone and then I’d be totally down for that,” says Maynard.

I told her I would come up with a list that had no skateboarders or race-car drivers.

I clink wine glasses with Emily (mine is filled with Diet Coke) and head to the elimination room.

A producer had asked me to send in a head shot and there I am on that famous bookcase beside former Bachelor star Jake Pavelka.

But I think I can do better. I place my picture between Maynard’s and another contestant, model Courtney Robertson. Perfect.

Wandering back into the expansive kitchen, I help myself to some cheesecake. Standing there is former contestant Michael Stagliano and his twin brother.

“I love Toronto!” exclaims Stagliano, who toured the city with his band last year.

I ask Stagliano what he thinks of Lowe as the Bachelor.

“He’s a really good guy. I’m rooting for him and Desiree, but who knows?” says Stagliano.

Back in the living room, I corner Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss. We talk real estate.

Developer Marshall put up the property for sale in 2008 for $12.995 million (U.S.) just when the real estate market in the U.S. cratered. Some estimates put the property value in the $3 million range representing the still depressed state of the L.A. housing market.

“I wish I had bought this place years ago,” says Fleiss. “But I wasn’t sure if we would get cancelled every year and we kept getting picked up.”

(Scoop alert: I’m not sure if Fleiss is throwing me a bone, or perhaps he’s had a little too much wine, but he tells me he’s already found the next Bachelorette. And she’s from Sean’s season.)

Wandering to the kitchen I am caught in an earnest conversation between former Bachelor and Bachelorette stars Ali Fedotowsky and Jason Mesnick.

“I haven’t been here since more than two years ago when I was with Roberto,” says Fedotowsky of her former fiancé. “It’s insane being back here.”

Fedotowsky, like Maynard, says she isn’t seeing anyone. “I’m not dating. I don’t care to,” she says. Asked whether she would return to The Bachelor, she says emphatically: “Never. I think it’s a great experience, but you learn from the first time.”

Life after the show can be difficult, says Mesnick.

“People seem to think that you leave here and you’re a millionaire, but really the only person who gets rich is Mike Fleiss.”

And being semifamous can be hard.

“I met this guy once, we went to Cabo and there was paparazzi,” says Fedotowsky. “But what he cared about was that he was getting media attention. So that sucked.”

At the end of the night I head back to find Lowe.

I remind him that the Bachelor’s track record of lasting hookups and marriages is pretty woeful.

“I totally understand that,” he says. “But really I don’t focus on the track record. I’m coming in here with the purest of intentions. I don’t get caught up in the exotic fantasy of the whole thing. I know that life goes back to normal.”

Before we leave there is a rose ceremony for a handful of guests.

Lowe is at the front handing out roses in the first coed Bachelor elimination ceremony in history.

After a tense countdown, my name is finally called and Lowe says, “My favourite Canadian! Tony, will you accept this rose?

Relieved, I accept and inadvertently blurt that he has a great ass. Well, that’s what my wife said.

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